Prices go from $4.99 to $6.99 a volume

Through this weekend, Viz is offering a 20% discount on their complete digital manga catalog. Unfortunately, this is prelude to a price hike on their offering. As of October 1st, manga that was $4.99 volume will be priced $6.99, while larger formats, such as the three-in-one collections and mature titles will be raised accordingly. Print prices will remain unchanged.

From the announcement

Dear Reader,

Starting October 1, 2013, our regular digital manga volumes will be offered at a new price of $6.99* (US/CAN). Our regular print manga prices will remain unchanged at a list price of $9.99 (US/CAN).

This was a difficult decision, but one we need to make to keep up with the cost of gathering great digital manga. Manga purchases by fans worldwide help support hundreds of artists, writers, editors, producers and now engineers who bring you this great content in digital form. These contributors pour their hearts and minds into bringing this content to you, and your purchases allow us to compensate them fairly.

Over the last few years, VIZ has made a lot of investments to bring you digital manga in a variety of formats. Today you can access VIZManga on the web, and iOS, Android and Kindle apps. The same great content is also available on Nook and Kobo devices. In the next few weeks we will be expanding to two new platforms to give you even more options. These investments would not have been possible without your help. Thank you!

We hope you will join us in supporting creators who bring us our favorite stories. In turn, VIZ will work tirelessly to bring your favorite manga to you anytime, anywhere.

In the meantime, please take advantage of our ongoing 20% off sale over the next few days. Our prices for regular manga will also return to the low price of $4.99 from September 3rd through the end of the month. So if you have been holding out buying volumes of your favorite series, buy now!

Kind regards, Your friends at VIZ

* VIZBIG and other select manga titles currently not priced reguarly at $4.99 (US/CAN) will also change accordingly.

-------Scott Green is editor and reporter for anime and manga at geek entertainment site Ain't It Cool News. Follow him on Twitter at @aicnanime.